Author: tellaphony

Welcome

11th entry.

This is just a 2nd part, so I think I’ll get into it.

Recap

Everyone is paired off.

Ruby and Weiss are best friends.

I’m circling back to the idea that Blake really is a cat-furry and is hiding it for some reason. I called attention to her cat-like features last episode, (mostly her eyes, really) and the more I think about it the more it makes sense.

We know she’s at least a train thief, furries are a thing, and they’re unhappy. She might have actually been a furry terrorist. I think it makes sense. Yang being after her also lends credence to my idea.

What I really worried about is that I’m right, because if I am then I’m screwed, because that’s the find of big twist that you’re not supposed to see coming and I don’t think I’ll be able to convince anyone that I haven’t seen this show before. I get enough hate-mail as it is.

I’ve toyed with the idea of making a string of predictions that I know are wrong just to take some heat off. Faking it so I don’t look like I’m faking it. How’s that for irony?

Emerald Forest Part 2

We open with our headmaster on the cliff

And his lovely assistant.

Glynda seriously doesn’t undersatnd the relationship between Ren and Nora.

Although, Lie Ren nails down the eastern influence, which to me nails down Mulan. Nora Valkyrie nails down Norse, and a quick google search for cross-dressing Norse heros bring up Thor, the God of Thunder himself.

Bring a whole new meaning to electric pink.

Interestingly, Thor is a god of strength, protecting humanity, and fertility. Strength and humanity protection are pretty spot on for a huntress, so it fits. Fertility is lulz, seeing how much she wants Ren.

Now the only thing she’s missing is a hammer and lightning powers.

I really hope she doesn’t have a hammer and lightning powers, that’ll cost me a whole new round of hate-mail.

“Still, he’s probably better off than Miss Nikos”

Everyone is better off than Miss Nikos. I really can’t wait for her to find out he’s a dirty rotten faker. One of two things is gonna happen, she’s either gonna tear him a new one, or help him become a better fighter.

Since she’s basically the best person ever, my money is on training.

Then they got close.

Then they bone or something. We’ll see

Still, Nikos? As in Niki? As in Greek for ‘Victory’? Way to hit it on the nose. Even her name means victory.

But there’s a wrinkle: Her first name has a similar connection to Pyrrhus. Pyrrhus Victory. Pyrrhic Victory.

Jesus… she’s gonna die.

Probably sacrifice herself for some noble cause, but the gain is not worth the price.

I hope I’m wrong. I really really hope I’m wrong.

Jaune had Transcripts? Transcripts?!

Transcripts that said he was ready.

…How? Did he forge them? Did he bribe someone? Can’t wait to find out.

Ozpin is taking an pretty intense interest in Ruby and Weiss

So much so he’s not even paying attention to his second in command. I wonder why that is?

Between this and silver eyes, she must have some kind of destiny. Her and Jaune both. The warrior marked by destiny and the warrior with limitless potential. Hell of a pair. Ozpin must know it.

Did he forge the transcripts? Did Ozpin know Jaune is special somehow, so he forged the transcripts for him and got him into the school?

If I am right and Pyrrha is a marked woman, then her death might serve as some sort of catalyst. The one thing that makes her death a victory, even if it is a Pyrrhic one. Oh, no…

Then Ruby and Weiss bicker some more for a while. I love these two. A real odd couple.

Weiss on her own is the worst, but her and Ruby have a sort of chemistry. They bring eachother to a middle. Well, not yet, first each of them has to get over themselves, but when they put it all aside, they really compensate for eachother.

“I’m not bossy. Don’t say things like that!”

Um…?

Bicker Bicker Bicker

“I’m not perfect. Not yet.”

Oooooo. That a powerful statement. I think we got another look into her psyche. She seeks perfection in herself, and has an incredible drive to find it. She wants to be the best.

She thinks Ruby’s brashness and immaturaty is going to drag her down, and it might. But Ruby’s kindness is going to lift her up.

And who knows, maybe Ruby can learn to be just a little more perfect.

Like Jaune and Pyrrha. They bring eachother to a middle.

Nora and Ren are the same.

And the terrorist, bounty hunter thing of Yang and Blake is another good pair.

Relics

Black and Yellow, Black and Yellow

Oh god, Chess Pieces?

In my very first entry I mentioned a chess game between the Narrator and Ozpin. And this show actually uses chess imagery.

No wonder you all hate me.

Those cave paintings look ominous

“Humor me for 5 more feet?” trip

Hah! Didn’t even make it that far.

And why is she even letting him lead, anyway? Wants to keep an eye on dat ass I bet.

“Do you feel that?” “Soul-crushing regret?”

Okay, that was funny. Good line.

Jaune’s VA is pretty good. Nothing like Pyrrha, but pretty good!

Warm?

“How about a cute little pony!”

Omg yang. Never ever stop being you. What I love about her is she just lives life. She doesn’t stand on her dignity, she doesn’t worry about crap. She just wants a cute little pony.

“It’s not like this place is very difficult to find.”

Oh, burn.

That’s not the relic. The relic is chess pieces

And do these animators charge on a per-polygon basis? 3 triangles? Really? Three whole triangles?

Oh, the not-relic moved… That’s not good.

Pyrrha’s face went a little weird here.

I think that’s supposed to be suspicion, but she just looks like she’s about to sneeze. Or maybe she’s high.

Oh god, that’s freaky

That scream though! Bahahha. Seriously, hats off to Jaune’s VA here. He really let that one go. It’s takes real talent to make a scream that intense, but that girly.

Are all 8 of them gonna fight this thing next episode? Is that the big draw of episode 8?

“This is not the relic, it’s not!”

No shit, bahahahahha. I take it back, Jaune’s VA is great.

And Pyrrha just nopes out, cartoon style. No ass is worth this!

And we end off with a Ruby from outta nowhere

How did she get up there? Did Weiss get mad and launch her with a force glyph? That would be hilarious.

Wrap-up and Review

Okay, so this is it. The next episode is the big one.

I think, given how much people are hyping it up, that it’s a really powerful episode. My guess is that Pyrrha dies to save everyone from the monster scorpion, and awakens some sort of power in Jaune.

Pyrrha dying to save Jaune is the definition of the gain not being worth the price.

If their souls are linked now from the ritual, like I think they are, then that might have a powerful mystical effect.

I really hope I’m wrong, I like Pyrrha. It would be unfortunate to lose her so early.

I love these characters. It kinda snuck up on me, but I realized it when Glynda was talking about some of the pairings. I’ve really come to care about them. I want to know more about them and I want to see them grow, become friends, fight evil, and find love.

It’s not every show that can make me really care about the characters. It’s very well done in that way.

Last show to do that was Scrubs. It’s guy love between two guys!~

Play of the Game

Welcome

This is the 10th entry into the Play-by-Play. Still redundant, still necessary. Truth is, I don’t even know what to write until I write those words. It’s like the catalyst that kicks off everything else. Moving on.

I got about half-a-dozen messages and comments prodding me about the state of this blog. Truth is, the same day I posted that I didn’t have any holiday plans was the exact day my parents called (love them) and told me that, actually, I did have Holiday plans. Though I was surprised, I called work, switched by shifts around, made the long drive, enjoyed a 3 day Christmas of tinsel and cookies and a real fire in a fireplace, then made the long drive back.

When I’m with people, I make a deliberate choice to say off the internet; so that’s why I went dark. I suppose in hindsight I could have said something on my most recent post, but it didn’t cross my mind.

I won’t say “I’m back” because I never left, and I won’t apologize and promise more content because I hate when blogs do that; it sounds so insincere. The truth is I will stick to my original promise: episode 8.

That’s become something of a monolith in this endeavor hasn’t it? Episode 8!

The one change I will make is changing the frequency to every other day. These things take a surprising amount of time to put together (about 2 hours for a 10 minute episode including rip, watch-throughs, screenshots, and document construction) and I need to reduce that load. We’ll see how this shakes out over time, or if there’s some operational change I can make to reduce the required effort.

I’m sick of talking shop, let’s watch the episode!

Recap

Our hunters-in-training were catapulted into a monster-infested forest, told make their way to the end, destroy everything in their path, collect a relic from a temple, and make it back alive.

At first, this sounds like an insane thing to do to 17 year old kids, but less insane when they have 4 years of training and superpowers, so it all evens out. I suspect it is a brutal way to sort the wheat from the chaff.

Brutal it may be, but in a world where monster-infested forests are within walking distance of something like this

it makes a bit more sense.

Most of our students are paired off, Weiss and Ruby became best friends, and Pyrrha is a closet yandere.

The Emerald Forest, Part 1

We open with our lovely blonde bimbo in an idyllic forest

Shouting.

In a monster infested forest.

What the hell is this?

Is that…Blake?

It kind of makes sense that it’s her. It’s a black blur, and she is a ninja with predominantly black coloring. If it was a green blur I’m assume it was Inky.

If that is Blake then is she stalking Yang?

That would mean that Blake is onto her. Is Yang’s cover blown already?

This might be cool to see play out.

Apparently Yang is bored. Look, sweetheart, I don’t care if you’re bored, shouting is actually kinda dumb. Now I gotta take points away from your subtly brilliant flight over the forest.

“Is someone there?”

Yeah, it’s probably Blake.

“Ruby, is that you?”

Awww, after all that talk about being on someone else’s team and she’s excited to find her sister.

“Nope”

And judging by the growling it isn’t Ruby either.

Jesus, it’s some kind of bear monster. Awsome!

Two of ’em!’

That is a hell of a punch.

This girl has a cannon for an arm. Literally.

Also, she put everything into that. She push so much into it she put herself off balance.

Kickboxing is so hot

Is she bantering with giant bear monsters?

I love this girl. She’s bored in the middle of a forest, and when she gets attacked by giant bears, she’s not only not worried about it, she’s happy to see them and wants to banter.

With monsters.

topkek

Swing and a miss!

Banter continues

Whelp. They’re gonners

I love the music here. It goes from hard-hitting dramatic horns to the sound of a machine breaking down. Such a great musical goof. Blondie isn’t screwing around anymore.

Yup. Gonners

Oh sure, now she calls them monsters.

Not because they’re monsters, but because they damaged her hair!

Oh, Yang. Never stop being you.

Then we’re treated to a classic anime scene of punching and yelling, yelling and punching.

Hoooooot

“You want some, too?!”

Of course he does. He’s a monster! 🙂

It was Blake!

Pretty as always.

So cute

Such a pretty kitty. That bow really works for her. I think it’s the catlike eyes that make it happen. Really sells the whole ‘cat’ look I think she’s going for. But without going overboard by drawing whiskers on her face.

Uh oh

That is the look of someone who didn’t expect to see what they’re seeing. Is she gonna try to take out her target out here, in the forest, where there won’t be any questions?

“I coulda taken him.”

Clearly. Okay, so what’s the plan, then? Maybe they’re banter before they start fighting. Yang is the law and Blake is a train thief, so this is gonna be some sort of showdown, right?

Oh, nevermind, it’s Weiss!

Cliffhanger?

Remember your training

Head up

Shoulders back

Right foot forward

Not that forward!

Slow your breathing

Wait for the right time to strike

NOW!

I love this sequence. Yang fights with passion, Ruby fights with instinct, Blake fights with skill, Weiss fights with training. Such a great combo, these four girls. I wonder how the yang/blake bounty thing is gonna turn out?

Suddenly RUBY!

I love this shot. GAH, RUBY!

That isn’t gonna go over well. Ruby is gonna take a tongue-lashing for that.

FIre magic

So Weiss isn’t just limited to Ice Magic. She’s apparently a general-purpose Black Mage. Which is ironic, considering.

Ooof!

“Hey, watch it!”

Um, Ruby, that was your fault. You cut her off.

“You attacked out of turn, I could have killed you”

Truth.

“You’ll have to try a lot harder than that”

Ruby, hush. You’re a good fighter, but you need to watch it.

That’s a big one.

Ruby smashed a score of these things in her trailer, so this shouldn’t be too bad if they work together. Which means they’re doomed.

Go time!

“We have to go!”

I agree with her.

Oh my god, this running animation

Ughghghghg. Please make it stop.

“What was that?”

That was you being a hyperactive nutjob, Ruby.

“Rawr”

So these two bicker for a bit. They’re both kind of in the wrong here, which is what makes the bickers so delicious.

There’s a problem though. Ruby’s voice actually became grating in this scene. In what was supposed to be a lovely scene of character building and defining the relationship between these two, the nasally older woman shone through instead.

It’s just bad.

The example line is “I’m just fine on my own”

Seriously, listen to it. Ick.

Moving on.

Damn, that thing is sharp

I loved this sequence

Oh look, a feather. Until it settles on the tree and the realization dawns. It’s a feather the size of a tree.

Alright, we get to see what Blinky and Clyde are up to!

“It seems some of our comrades have encountered the enemy”

Pyrrha has her ‘game face’ on.

Whap!

He face is great in that shot. It reminds me of this guy

Again with the apologizing

So she’s a Canadian War Goddess. Lovely.

This is why I have a problem with Pyrrha smashing through the trees.

She can smash her way through three full grown trees without taking a hit, but this guy gets whapped by a brancer and draws blood.

Though, I suppose it makes sense when I think about it. He isn’t a real huntsman, remember? She definitely is.

Aura? What’s that?

“Your aura”, “Guzuntight”

Then they launch into exposition mode, with Jaune playing the part of the audience and Pyrrha explaining to us through him. I wouldn’t be surprised if that was his entire purpose for existence, to be the clueless patsy that everyone has to explain everything too so they can in turn explain it to us. Which means this show is gonna go a lot of telling, and not a lot of showing. Also known as lazy.

Devil’s advocate is they only have 6 minute episodes to fit everything in to, so they have to do what they can, but that’s a weak argument. Mostly because during the whole awsome sequence of Ren beating up a snake demon, they do show you Aura, while also telling. It’s so strange.

Anyway, Aura is a defensive manifestation of the soul. Not unlike a force-field. Everyone has it, except the monsters, because they lack a soul. I assume it takes training to perfect, which is why Jaune here took a hit from the branch. Also Pyrrha mentions that Aura takes practice. They not only use it defensively, but it can be channeled through weapons.

What’s neat is that monsters were termed as “the manifestation of anonymity” and “they are the darkness and we are the light.” Which is cool, because if light is the opposite of dark, then the opposite of anonymity is individuality and expression. Which goes a long way to informing these character designs. Everyone is unique and special. Everyone takes pride in their identity by getting a coat of arms made and embossing it on everything. Everyone creates their own identity. Even Weiss, who has a certain normalness to her appearance, wears her ponytail off center to give herself some individuality.

People pick their colors and express the hell out of it. It’s just the culture. Like a middle finger to to black and white grimm. You may be a scary monster, but you’re not going to stop me from wearing electric pink, because that’s who I am.

We learn some stuff about Ren, too

I was on the money when I guessed he was a martial artist, but he also incorporates his weak little machine pistols into his routines. I assume they are there to wear down the creatures while he works on them.

There’s some mystical stuff about dark and light and aura but I have no idea what it all means.

Though the yin-yang snake really drive the point home about dark and light

Pyrrha goes on for a bit about soul projection and channeling, but it’s stuff I already covered.

Then Jaune break it down to “It’s like a force field!”

Which is super reductionist and kinda idiotic. It’s so much more than that. It’s like this universe’s version of the Force, minus the precognition and clarvoyance. It’s defensive and aggressive. It is shield and weapon.

It also going some distance to explaining how Pyrrha blasted through those trees. Project herself into her shield, and use her power to blow them apart and protect herself from harm. Being a professional fighter, she has a lot of power to give, and used it to land. Very cool.

Honorable mention to this takedown

Ren is a badass.

Awwww, this is kind of sweet

Pyrrha spouts of some kind of prayer here. I have no idea what it means, so I’ll try to break it down.

“For it is in passing that we achieve immortality.” When we die, we become heros.

“Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all.” When we die, We are celebrated and never forgotten.

“Infinite in distance and unbound by death.” When we die, our reach and influence becomes infinite, not even death can erase us. Alternate interpretation is something similar to a Jedi becoming one with the Force at the moment of death.

“I release your soul, and by my shoulder protect thee.” This prayer is part of the ritual to unlock a person’s soul, and they become linked. I think.

So…are they aura-married now?

Apparently the procedure is exhausting, but Jaune has an angelic glow about him now. That must be his aura.

“I used my Aura to unlock yours, but the energy that protects you now is your own.” Okay, so she unlocked his aura, and now he has a lot of training to do to learn how to use it.

Apparently he has a lot of it, which hints that his super power might be super toughness, or that whatever his power is, it’s a mighty one. So, that’s it then. The untrained warrior with unlimited potential, then? Some sort of Chosen One?

I thought this was Ruby’s show?

“Crrrrawww, Crrrrawwww”

Dawww, Nora. So cute. But I have to ask, what was the point of the sloth call if you’re just going to show yourself eventually?

“I still don’t think that’s what a sloth sounds like”

Okay, that line was good. Also Monty has graduated from godawful to merely bad from one line to the next. All these VAs are getting better, except for that one regression from Ruby during her bickering match with Weiss.

“Boop!”

Awwww. I love her.

And so does he

Is she sticking out her tongue? That seems appropriate to her.

And that’s it.

Wrap up and Review.

We didn’t get to find out what’s about to happen between Yang and Blake, but I suspect that’ll shake out in the next episode.

So story is building. We got a bit of a bombshell as to how the superpowers work, and I like the trope of “souls as power” so it works out. It’s not original, but it is a concept that can work really well if handled correctly, so I’m cautiously optimistic.

But there are some things. Stop reading now if you don’t want to read about me tearing this show a new one.

These close-ups did a great job of showcasing just how terrible these character models are. They look like something from a PlayStation 2.

Comparison shot 1

Comparison shot 2

Comparison shot 3

If you need more examples, just go look at all the closeups from Weiss’ ‘remember your training’ sequence.

You can almost count the polygons that make up their faces, all their details are just drawn onto a flat surface. The chains on Pyrrha’s ear-dangles are literally flat. You can actually count the polygons on her crown. I counted about 8.

It’s just…not acceptable. It’s kinda gross. 3D anime isn’t great anyway, but when it’s low-poly flat-texture 3d anime it’s so much worse. If you make the choice to go low-poly and make it look good, really sell it, then it can work. But this is that unfortunate ugly low-poly you get from game consoles in 2002. And this came out in 2013.

The one thing they do to make it better is lots and lots of anti-aliasing, which helps, but it isn’t a magic bullet.

Graphics aren’t everything, but they aren’t nothing. Especially in a tv show. So far, this show scrapes by on it’s lovable characters and building intrigue but it’s not great. It’s barely good.

Then there’s the voice acting, which is inconsistent and runs to gamut from great to gross, and the non-battle animation which is almost always gross and clunky and mechanical.

When Ruby and Weiss are running toward the camera just before their bickering session their feet not only weren’t touching the ground, but they were moving at a different speed than the ground was, giving their feet the impression of sliding along the ground.

This show has two episodes to either turn all this around or really hook me with some seriously epic action or storytelling.

The show has merits, but almost all of it’s mechanics are sub-par. It’s squeaking by. At the end of every episode I’m always on the balance of “Man this is crap, but there’s just enough there to keep me interested.”

It’s like a subpar pizza. It’s still kinda good and you’re still gonna eat it, but you might not come back.

Anyway, that’s enough bitching I think.

Play of the Game

Welcome

This is the 9th entry into the Play-by-Play.

Someone mentioned that they are watching the episode while they read the entry. I would recommend that everyone do this. it’ll probably make it a lot clearer what I’m talking about if you see it happening too. Also the jokes might work better.

This entry is a bit phoned in because I have a busy day ahead of me and just needed to knock it out. Lucky it was a rather short and simple episode, so it all works out.

Spoiler thread is available.

Recap

Last time, our heros got launched off a cliff into hostile territory.

Jaune is a creep and probably gonna die.

Recap complete.

The First Step: Part 2

We open with an idyllic shot of The Emerald Forest

It’s very pretty.

BIRD!

That sounds like a Crow.

Crow – Qrow

I doubt it means anything, but now every time I see a bird, I just think Qrow.

But really though, It could be Blake. She wasn’t on the cliff, so maybe she just flew there. Can Blake turn into a blackbird? That would be COOL!

I still don’t know her superpower, so let’s just pencil that in.

Except this bird has claws on it’s wings

Which is more like a feathered Pterodactyl.

Nora!

Ruby!

Wrecked

Birdy, NO! 😦

Awww, she sounds so remorseful, killing that bird.

So cute.

Unless that bird was Blake then no, it’s not so cute. Oh man, wouldn’t that be funny? Blake finds Ruby and is like “What is wrong with you, do you know how much that hurts?!”

Nora again. And that might be Weiss and Blake? Maybe?

Yang

Some of you might be wondering how I’m spotting all these people. Once I noticed that people were falling in the background because I saw one of them, I backed the video up and started framing through this whole scene to see how many I could spot. Like a challenge to myself.

No, wait, that’s Weiss

Also Jaune, still pinwheeling through the air. This might be the last time we see him alive.

And he’s on the same course as Ruby, so she might see him go splat

Poor Ruby.

Using gun recoil to slow down

Not a bad idea in theory. Depends on the recoil of the weapon, but we have seen her use it before to great effect, so I think it’s fine.

Then catch a tree for final landing

Not bad. It would require incredible strength, but super-strength is one of her superpowers to it all works out.

Weiss entire strategy is to use her force glyphs to slow down and land

Simple and effective. I like it.

Here’s Ren, and Nora in the background

This is why the eye contact thing isn’t so bad. If you know what you’re doing, you could just follow your intended teammate down to the forest and link up with them there. You have a chance to choose if you know what you’re doing.

Or, if you’re like Pyrrha, you can just let the chips fall where they may.

I like his idea

Just ride the tree down.

Nailed it

lol, yang

WOO HOOO! She took the prospect of being launched off the cliff as a good thing. She’s having fun.

Flying over the forest

This is another one of Yang’s subtle moments of brilliance. Why land in the dangerous forest when you can just fly over it?

She knows the temple is at the end of the forest, so she’s just gonna fly to the end and look for it there.

I’m telling you, my favorite bimbo is smarter then she lets on.

And why not have a good time doing it?

Jump off some trees for final braking

I guess she didn’t want to waste any more ammo?

Or she didn’t want to get too far ahead in case she needs help and has to link up with someone.

“Nailed it!”

Hahaha. Yes you did, sweetheart. Yes you did.

We finally get a good look at Clyde’s weapons

At first glance, it’s a hoplite’s spear and shield, fitting, but if you look closely you can see some mechanisms on the spear. I wonder what those mechanisms do?

Also that combat pose is perfect and gorgeous. I wonder what her strat is.

Just smash through some trees?

That’s weird.

For that to work she’d have to be super strong or super resistant to damage.

I wonder if that’s her superpower? Super toughness?

But then why have a shield?

I don’t like this. It seems…a little too much.

And she pops up into a gorgeous firing stance

And her spear turns into a sort of WW1 bolt-action rifle. Very cool.

Here’s Jaune. Falling to his death. Are we about to see him splat through her scope?

That her rifle doesn’t have?

That a huge error. Why does it show through a scope? She doesn’t have a scope! That’s…just terrible.

Both her landing strategy and especially this whole scope no-scope thing just smack of incompetence.

That was glorious

She just spins it around like a rifle trick as it transforms into a throwing javelin. Then she strikes this perfect spear-throwing pose, using her thumb for distance and windage.

Her arm perfectly lined up with the angle of the spear.

Just..everything. Perfect.

So what’s the plan, is she gonna save him by using her spear to pin him to a tree or something?

Uses the recoil from a bullet to give the spear some extra uumph. Like a rocket spear

I just want to call attention to the fluidity and professionalism of Pyrrha here. She lands, rolls, pops up into a stance, spots someone in trouble, transforms her spear with a flourish, lines up the shot taking only exactly the time required to aim, then chucks it.

All in one fluid motion.

There’s a reason this girl won her tournament 4 years in a row. She is damn good.

And looks damn good doing it

And, of course, she nailed him.

So in addition to super strength and super toughness, she also as super aim and eyesight.

“I’m sorry!”

For what? Saving his life?

Something else just dawned on me, too. She gave up her weapon. She gave up her weapon in a hostile environment to save someone else. Now she has to walk lord knows how far, through hostile territory, to get her weapon back.

I hold no illusions that she’s helpless without her spear, but it’s still an action of great personal risk and sacrifice.

Suddenly….Ruby

Gotta find yang, eh?

Her first thoughts are of Jaune. How sweet.

I love the comic playing out in her head

Jaune is nice and funny, but not a good fighter.

Blake is mysterious and calm and a bookworm, but possibly not the best of friends.

“Who else do I know in this school? There’s yang, Jaune, Blake aaaaaand….”

Weiss?

Yup.

It’s Weiss.

Okay, something really subtle but really important just happened here.

She spotted Weiss before Weiss spotted her.

Ruby skids to a stop

Cute pose, by the way

She keeps her eyes down to avoid the pairing

And then looks up

Then bam the pairing is sealed

Ruby chose Weiss. She could have kept her head down and walked away, but she didn’t. She looked up.

She chose Weiss over everyone else. Over Blake her book-buddy, Jaune her love interest, and even Yang, her sister.

She chose to pair up with Weiss.

By looking up

That is…incredibly sweet. I don’t think Weiss knows how lucky she is.

Nope. She does not

Awwww, poor Ruby.

Don’t worry, sweetie. She’ll come around.

Not used to the forest, Princess?

Maybe don’t comes into a combat zone in a dress, then.

Holy shit….

So two things. If this is Weiss’ other choice (as if she had one) then she is definitely going back to Ruby.

The other one is: Holy crap, can you believe that shot?

She not only nailed him to a tree, she nailed him by the hood on his hoodie

From that distance.

While he was falling

And spinning.

And she only took a second to line up the shot.

Fuck me. That girl is really something else.

He waves, and Weiss nopes out

“By no means does this make us friends” yoink

Oh Weiss. Have a heart.

“You came baaack!”

That line delivery was spectacular. It was so cute and funny! Ms Jones seems to have stepped up her game a bit. Nice.

Ruby is totally okay with being dragged away, as long as it’s by her new best friend. hah.

Weiss doesn’t stand a chance against adorableness of that magnitude.

“Hey wait, come back!”

No, Jaune. You messed up when you went all creepy Casanova. Now you just hang there and think about what you did.

Also, Ruby’s ongoing celebration is too much.

Oh…god…

As the man once said: I’ll be in my bunk!

“Do you have any spots left on your team?”

Hah! Savage.

He deserves it.

“Very funny”

You’re damn right it’s funny.

Dawww, those big beautiful blues

He’s perrrrfect

You know, Pyrrha may be perfection, but does she strike anyone else as a little bit creepy or crazy? Maybe a touch of the old Yandere?

Why are the hot ones always crazy?

The good news for her is she lies in the acceptable zone of the Hot/Crazy scale, so it’s okay. As long as she doesn’t, I dunno, flay his skin or something.

And they’re bickering already

AWWWWWWWWWWWW

Her face and the little hand movement. Just…so cute.

Also, showcasing her superspeed.

She’s right, she does know how to deal with monsters.

Did this bitch just touch me!?

Haha, Weiss. You’re such a bitch it’s almost wrapped back around to being funny.

“That Ruby girl is really really cooooool. And I wanna be her friend”

Oh Ruby. You are so precious. And they look really good together, hey? They both make each other look cuter. Nice. That’s bestfriend material right there.

Awwww. As soon as Ruby disappeared, Weiss gets all worried.

I think Weiss does want a friend, she just can’t admit it because she’s all…Weissy.

Yeah, this is bad

I wonder where Ruby went so fast?

Maybe she is honoring Weiss’ request to go faster and thinks Weiss is right behind her?

And here we get our first good look at the monsters

They’ve had some changes since the trailer. That faceplate is really cool and the spikes are menacing. It looks otherworldly and dangerous.

Of course, we know from the trailer that Ruby can take on several of these things at once, so it’s not much of a treat, but it certainly looks the part.

And that’s it.

I wonder where Ruby went? That’s so weird.

Wrap up and Review

That was a short one. I don’t really feel comfortable diving into the next episode because it’s a part 1, and it would be weird for the pacing of this blog for it to do a part 2, then a part 1, right?

Right.

So far the show is just staying the course in terms of quality. Ruby had a really good delivery that gives me hope.

Also, Jaune survived against my expectations, so that’s cool. Good for him. Turns out he has a Greek Goddess looking out for him.

A possibly insane greek goddess.

Play of the Game

Pyrrha’s incredible throw. Jaune is only alive because she makes up for his weakness.

Welcome

This is the 8th entry into the Ruby Play-by-play.

My comment about a RWBY sitcom has inspired a few people to tell me about the RWBY Chibi spinoff. It’s entirely too early to be talking about spinoffs when I’m not even sure if I’m going to be sticking with the main show yet.

The fateful 8th episode draws near. If you asked me right here and now if I planed to keep doing these my answer would be no. The show had it’s strengths, but it also has many many weaknesses due to it’s amateur production.

Yes I’ve heard all the excuses about budget and talent and blah blah blah but at the end of the day what really matters is output. This show just doesn’t have the output.

I know that’s not what you wanted to hear, but it’s the truth.

Moving on, you all seem to have the spoiler thing more or less figure out, so kudos! With any luck this will be the last time I have to talk about them.

Also I got nominated for some sort of subreddit-specific award, which is neato. While my thanks go out to the nominator, I don’t think 8 posts really qualifies anyone for anything. Remember what I said about output? I just don’t have the output.

Speaking of output, I have further refined my episode rip and screenshot process so now the screenies should be of the highest quality yet and be in full glorious 1080p. I hope.

Lastly, apparently yesterday I again managed to quote a character. Let me say that there are 4 years of dialogue built up on this show, so it’s inevitable that I’d collide with it at least once. It’s a little unusual and unfortunate that it happened twice but there’s nothing I can do about it other than to make my commentary and review as dry as possible so I don’t accidentally quote characters.

I know when that happens (and when I accidentally stumble upon correct predictions) it makes me look like a dirty faker, but what am I supposed to do about it? Sometimes I’m gonna guess right, sometimes I’m gonna guess wrong. Your confirmation bias is going to remember all the times I nailed something and conveniently forgot the times I didn’t.

At this point, you either trust me or you don’t. If you trust me, then I invite you to carry on as normal, if you don’t, then the downvote arrow is right over there.

I know I said I wouldn’t harp on this anymore, but lying is one of my absolute pet peeves. If one of my underlings makes a minor mistake, I will never fire them for it. If they make a minor mistake and then lie to me about it, I will fire them on the spot. Zero tolerance. So being accused of lying just really pushes my buttons.

No accusations were leveled in the thread, but I did get a couple accusatory messages. Please no witch hunting.

Okay, sorry. I’m done.

Spoiler thread is available.

Recap

We met all of our girls and we have seen them interact. We know how they all are as people and we know more or less what they plan to get themselves in to.

Right now Yang is my favorite. Apart from mechanical stuff like her better voice acting and so forth, she’s just my favorite person. She’s kind and caring and badass and fun. She’s got just that touch (more than a touch, but let’s be nice here) of Bimbo that makes her sexy. She has all the best lines.

Otherwise, she show is staying the course. Not a while lot has changed so probably best to just get started.

The First Step

Iiiiiit’s Pinky!

This is good news. I was wondering when we’d meet the rest of Team Pack Man.

“Wake up lazy butt!”

So she is excitable. Looks like I guessed that right.

“It’s morning, it’s morning, it’s morning, It’s morning”

Inky is 200% done already, and I gotta say, I’m a bit on his side. Nothing is worse than a morning person.

Still though, here’s an interesting observation: why is he fully dressed? Did he sleep in his street cloths?

She being fully dressed makes a sort of sense, she could have been up for a while, fullly dressed, vibrating with energy, just waiting for Inky to wake up.

But why is he dressed?

Pinky, it’s the Men’s room.

Get out.

Inky is now 300% done.

“You’re the perfect student and I, well, I’m me!”

Perfect student eh? So Inky is some sort of nerd?

And is that his girlfriend?

“We’ve been friends for soooooo long”

Friends eh? Okay so who friend-zoned who?

Also, I see a symbol on her hairbrush. I’m going to assume that’s her symbol. Can’t really make it out very clearly, but it’s definately something.

Also if she’s brushing her hair, then that means she hasn’t been up all that long and she also, therefore, slept fully clothed. In her metal bracing/armor.

And woke Inky up as soon as she woke up.

“Not together, together. Not saying you aren’t handsome, you are handsome.”

Ooooh. She wants him. Okay, so my “love me!” analysis of her clothing seems to be pretty spot on.

Also, she is super hyper. And her ‘friend’ (other that being annoyed) is super mellow.

I wonder how long this has been going on. Poor guy.

“What was I thinking?”

That, my dear, may be a question without an answer.

She doesn’t even just talk with her mouth full, she talking with an uneaten pancake hanging out of her mouth. That’s a whole other level.

“I hope we end up on the same team together”

Fair enough. There are teams. Her verbage makes me think they are in teams of more than two. And, since in the intro we saw all these students in teams of four, I’m gonna guess they are in teams of four, and Team Pac Man is one of them.

Did that bitch just slurp a pancake?

A plan, eh?

That seems sensible, although I shudder to think what sort of plan you will come up with. You’re passionate and cute, it’s true, but you don’t strike me as terribly intelligent.

“What if we bride Headmaster?”

Jesus, Pinky, no!

“No that wont work, he has a school.”

Oh thank god. She does have a brain.

“I know!”

Is the idea Disco Fever?

Also Inky is still so done.

Where will we be when Diarrhea strikes?

Sorry, I know toilet humor is gross and a little low-brow, but when I caught that look on her face, I just couldn’t resist.

Her idea of a signal is pretty good, though. I wonder if she’ll follow it up with a reasonable signal. Like a flare gun, or bird song?

That narrows down their fairy tale possibilities. Which Norseman cross dressed in his story? Not really sure, Norse mythology isn’t my strongest area, and I’m not even sure Nora is Norse, that was just my knee jerk reaction. Could also be German. Trouble is, I don’t know any German crossdressers either.

Ren is a little easier. The slant of his eyes (no, I’m not being racist, it’s just a common facial trait of eastern people), the cut of his jacket which is reminiscent of a Man Kimono, that easternish name, and him being a perfect student (okay, that was a little bit racist) makes me want to double down on eastern. The obvious go to for eastern cross dressers is Mulan. So now, is he based on the Disney Mulan where she lives happily ever after, or the real Mulan where she gets beaten and tortured to death.

Only time will tell.

So yes, that’s my final answer. Ren is Mulan. Apologies if I’m right and you hate me now.

Here we get a good shot of his weapons

They look like weird Glocks with extra-long knifes attached to them. Also he has embossed what I assume is his symbol on them. Some sort of flower. Maybe a lotus?

“I don’t think sloths make a lot of noise”

Thank you!

But, sadly, we have another bad voice actor. What’s weird is he almost sounds like he’s reading into a lower quality microphone. The crispness of the pickup isn’t as good. Also, he sounds like he’s reading his lines, instead of acting them. Just, reading. He doesn’t sound like anything. Such a shame.

It could be described as ‘deadpan’ at a stretch, but not really.

What do you mean sloths don’t make noise?

Poor girl. Her hopes and dreams just got crushed.

“That’s why it’s perfect!”

Oh Nora. I take it back, I like you. You bounce back like a rubber ball.

“No one will suspect we’re working together!”

I…guess that makes sense. In a Nora way.

Her VA is at Ruby level. It’s another older woman putting a nasal voice on to sound younger. It’s fine, it gets the job done, but it’s not good. Better than a falsetto anyway.

You all keep telling me they improve, so we’ll just have to see. Right now though, it’s not great.

“But not together, together”

Segway!

She is awfully chipper this morning. Nice!

Glad to see she’s feeling better.

“Today, I get to let me sweetheart do the talking”

That’s probably for the best. You’re not terribly good with people, but you fight like a demon. Maybe you’ll impress someone and make a friend!

Wont that be nice?

“You’re not the only one going through initiation”

That’s a good point. Ruby could connect with someone on that level, and grow from there.

“Uuuugh, you sound like daaaad”

Yes, she does, but you should listen anyway. She’s smarter than she looks (har har) and she only wants the best for you.

“What does meeting people have to do with fighting?”

A lot, actually. Mostly just teamwork. Can’t kill all the monsters by yourself, yeah?

“I drink milk!”

Bahahhahahah. Oh, that’s good. Drink your milk to grow up big and strong, right? This girl has it all figured out. I love it.

Then go one for a bit about teams, but we’ve already talked about that. Teams of four. And we also know who’s gonna end up with who thanks to the intro so there’s not really a lot to discuss.

“Maybe you should try being on someone else’s team”

I bet she’s worried it’ll be harder to slip away and do her job with her sister being around. It’s gonna be hard enough to slip away as it is.

Ruby is not happy about the suggestion to be on separate teams.

Break out of her shell, eh?

That, and it’ll be easier to slip away. She loves her sister, but she still has a job to do.

Yang is smarter that she lets on. Very cool.

“Rediculous!”

Segway!

He’s looking for his gear?

But..he’s wearing it. Does he not know he’s wearing it?

Man, that dude has problems.

Yey, I get to meet Clyde!

Is Weiss about to bitch all over her, too?

Pyrrha, eh?

I had to take to the captions to get that spelling right.

Other candidates: Pyrrah, peirah, peerah.

Pyrrha is definataly a greek name. It sounds like the female form of Pyrrhus, who happens to be a male greek General. (I took Greek history as an elective in college. Was really cool.) That would make him the obvious candidate for her name, but he’s not exactly a mythic character. The go to for Mythic greeks would have to be Achilles who google confirms did cross-dress in his myth. So there you have it, Her mythic inspiration. Achilles.

Sorry if I’m right.

“Have you given and thought to who’s team you’d like to be on?”

Wait, Weiss likes someone? What the hell is going on here?

Pyrrha’s VA is good. She sounds professional even. I was so worried we were gonna get another Adam or Ren.

Also, this is the most stilted conversation ever. At first I though it was because of bad writing but I realized that it’s supposed to be stilted. Weiss is stiffly asking someone to be on her team and the other, not really wanting to be in the conversation, is stiffly replying.

It’s actually brilliant.

I find myself questioning if that cloud is diagetic

You never know with this show.

In any case, this further sells Weiss as the diabolical mastermind. It’s a look that really works for her.

The strongest and smartest girl, eh? Which is which I wonder? And why would she think Pyrrha is either of those?

Weiss’ soliloquy is a wonderful view into her psyche. She really is ‘that girl’. Popular, successful, rich, beautiful, stuck up. Basically stuff we already knew, but it’s nice to get confirmation.

TBF, I’d make that face too if I was hot and this idiot tried to talk to me

Is he doing a seduction voice?

Please stop…

Um, what? Does Pyrrha like him? How? Why?

Hahaha, dismissed

Weiss is 500% done

I understand that. If there was ever a time to be a rotten bitch, this is it. I hope she delivers.

Jaune spends a while here failing to flight with Weiss. It’s kinda sad, really. Until this:

Well, hot stuff

Is it just me, or is this guy the worst?

Thank you, Weiss, I think that was needed

Snow angel

Not gonna lie, that’s actually pretty good. I would use that. It wouldn’t work, but I would try.

“Hello again!”

Something about that line delivery really make me laugh. She’s either naive, or really friendly. So cute. Such a good VA.

S, some things we learn about Pyrrha:

She graduated top of her class.

She won some tournament 4 times in a row, which is pretty damn impressive. We know that students study for four years at a combat school, so that means she won it every year including as a first year student. If they pit only first year students against eachother then fine, it’s still impressive but it’s more plausible. If it’s the entire school, including 4th year students, then that is crazy impressive that she beat people with 3 more years of training than she had.

She sheepishly admits to it being cool, then laments it’s health effects. She’s a bit humble, too. Oh, what a gal. I think…I think I’m in love.

“Do you really think you’re in a position to ask her to be on your team?”

That’s kinda mean, but also a really good point. Jaune is a joke. Pyrrha’s a star. It’s like a nerd asking out the prom queen. Just…no.

Awwww, what a sweetheart

That pose. It’s so wonderfully girly.

“This kind of behavior should not be encouraged!”

I agree, actually.

Dude. Stop.

Weiss is gonna hit him.

“That’s a bit too close”

Hit him.

Or maybe she wont because the Dust Company Heiress wants to team up with the Star Athlete and Legendary Fighter and doesn’t want to alienate her by letting her bitch side out too much.

Clever.

I really want to see how this turns out.

Wait, is Pyrrha gonna hit him?

Yup. She hit him. Nice!

We also get a peek at her weapon, but not a great one. I’ll wait for another opportunity before trying to analyze it.

“I’m sorry!”

Awwww. She was just doing what she had to do. That okay, I get it. He had it coming.

Beacon Cliff, eh? An initiation on a cliff? I can’t even speculate what that’s all about, but it doesn’t sound good.

Wait, that’s weird!

She didn’t touch her weapon to call it back to her hand

Well…actually it looks more like an animation glitch now that I frame through it. Nevermind.

“Having some trouble there, ladykiller?”

Omg, Yang. Too savage.

Yes, confidence, but also not being a total creep. That’s good, too.

Hey, yang, I liked Snow Angel! I thought it was cute a funny. From a creep is sounds creepy, but if you deliver it right, it would totally work!

Dawww, Ruby, helping her maybe-future boyfriend up. That’s cute

8 students, 8 nobodies, two teachers

On a cliff. And what are they standing on? This can’t be good.

According to Ozpin, this is a combat evaluation in the “Emerald Forest”.

Sounds like a lovely place.

Who’s these guys?

And where the hell is Blake?

I’ve changed my mind. These two are Tweedle Dick and Tweedle Balls, respectively. Those two in the trailer, I’m just going to call the Henchmen.

Tweedle Dick looks like a classic armored warrior. He looks strong and capable, with sensible equipment and a confident attitude. My guess is he’s just a damn good Huntsman. The fact he’s not in silhouette means he’s important. I wonder what his story is?

Tweedle Balls looks like an asshole, though. My guess is he’s gonna be a short-term antagonist in the forest. Work against our heroes and try to be the first one back to get more points. What a dick.

Ozpin spends some time talking about teams.

So you’re stuck with someone for your entire time at Combat College. I can understand Ruby’s worry. What if she got paired up with Weiss and had to deal with her bitchy ass for however-long-they’re here.

Except we already know that happens because of the intro. Ruby is in for a tough time, isn’t she? Poor little gemstone.

Eye Contact?

Are you kidding me? That’s so…random! Four years, what the fuck…

Well…actually. Think about it, right. If you see someone but they don’t see you, then you can just walk away and no pairing happens. So there is an element of choice. Just don’t make eye contact and you’re okay. So it’s somewhere between random and deterministic. Actually..I think that’s okay. It’s not great, but it’s not terrible either.

It also encourages students to be stealthy to avoid people they don’t want to pair with, and seek out those that they do.

All in all, not a terrible system.

ruby.Animation.Play(“what”)

Ugh.

Don’t hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die.

Jesus, that’s harsh.

But I think I go back to what I said before. These may be 17 year old kids, but they’re 17 year old kids with firepower and magic and 4 years of training. They are prepared for danger. Or, at least some danger anyway. So this is actually a really good form of initiation. It gets the point across that this is not a place for idiots and buffoons. This is an active mission hub and you are in danger here.

They signed up for this. There are soldiers who are only 18, but they signed up to be soldiers. You gave them a weapon and some training and you’re sending them to die. Ozpin is just doing the same thing here.

It’s a little harsh, since it’s just a training exercise, but again, these are strong kids. They can handle themselves.

And if they can”t, well, they were probably gonna die anyway. Best to weed them out now before they go on a real mission and get someone else killed instead.

It’s a harsh treatment, but if my theories are correct, this is a harsh, harsh world. If you sign up to fight you better damn sure be ready to fight.

And if you aren’t?

Well…you better to ready to die.

So that’s my new prediction. Ruby and Jaune make eye contact and get a little close in the combat zone. Then jaune gets destroyed and Ruby learns a valuable lesson. A lesson about love and war. A lesson about being ready to do what you must, or be ready to face the consequences.

This helps to prove my point

Nora is ready. She’s not scared. She knows she has the training and know-how to survive the test. She just got told she might die but she doesn’t care.

“Our instructors will not intervene.”

Man. Jaune, you are so fucked.

These two are worried for very different reasons

Jaune is worried he’s gonna die. Ruby is worried she’ll get stuck with a shitty team member.

See what I mean?

I believe the term is “death flag” and Jaune, buddy, you’ve got one.

Ozpin just cut Jaune off. I think he knowns.

Of course, ozpin is smart, and Jaune is obvious. I think Ozpin expects him to die. Why bother answering the questions of a dead man.

They’re launching them into the forest?

I think I understand what a ‘landing strategy’ is. Man, they’re gonna weed out the failures quick.

Ozpin and Jaune basically confirm in conversation that I am right. No parachutes, no airships, just you and gravity’s cruel embrace.

Farewell, Jaune.

“What is a landing strategy^y^y^y^y^y”

Oh come on, that’s just cruel.

I love how everyone who knows what’s going on is in a flight position, and Jaune is just pinwheeling through the air. Good characterization.

One more death flag.

Sip

No fucks given

Wrap-up and Review

This is a bit of a shorter one. I might have been able to fit part 2 into it, but I ran out of time if I wanted to get it up today, so here it is!

So, that was another hell of an episode. We met the rest of Team Pacman and I like them. Shame the voice acting is still all over the place, but overall, they’re good characters.

I adore Pyrrha. She humble and beautiful and strong. Her design is great, her VA sounds like a professional. Just, everything about her is top top top.

Shame about Ren. Cool design let down my a bad VA. Shame indeed.

I would also say it’s gonna be a shame about Jaune, but truthfully, the cheat kinda deserves it. This is not a place to fuck around, like Weiss said. Practice and sparring is over. It’s monster time.

I am looking forward to seeing all this play out. I hope Ruby handles it okay.

There were a couple candidates for play of the game. This was a bit of a difficult choice.

Play of the Game

Welcome

This is the 7th entry into the RWBY Play-by-play.

On the subject of ‘hating’ characters. Last episode we actually started to meet some people, and it was lovely.

I did not take a shine to every character. Specifically Jaune because I suspect he is a liar and a cheat and snuck his way into Beacon somehow as evidenced by his lack of control over his shield, the fact he didn’t make his own weapon, and the fact he seems to lack any sort of skill whatsoever. I also called Weiss a bitch. A lot.

The point is if I say I don’t like a character, that is not to say I don’t think they’re good characters, or that they don’t have a place in the show or that I don’t like them. It’s more for entertainment value. Like if you’re hanging out with a buddy watching a movie and you say “I don’t like her very much” about the villain. It’s not that you dislike the character, is that you’re not supposed to like her, right?

Am I making any sense?

The point is, I like Weiss and I think she has a valuable role to play in coming events and provides a good point of conflict. I also like Jaune for very much the same reason.

But’s she’s still a bitch and I hate her.

And Jaune’s still a cheat.

Moving on.

I’ve said something about spoilers in every entry up till now, so from now on I mostly just going to ignore it. The less said about them the better.

One further clarification. I saw a comment about word count and I want to say it’s not 15,000 words that I’m shooting for, it’s 15,000 characters. Character count is the metric that reddit gives me, so that’s the metric i use. 15,000 characters is about 3,000 words. So in effect I’m writing 3000 word essays about every episode. Not 15,000. Everyone clear? Good.

Spoiler thread is available.

Recap

Last episode we met a lot of people and learned a hell of a lot about the world.

Dust comes in many shapes and forms.

Weiss is rich and is about to take over a huge corporation

Blake is…Blake.

Jaune is a solid candidate for love interest, and is also possibly a cheat.

Which could create some delicious angst when him and Ruby are all close, but she finds out he’s a total liar.

The Schnee Dust Company has a solid shot at being a major villian.

Which, if true, could mean that the narrator in episode 1 is the CEO of the company, and Weiss is her daughter. That would be dope!

The Shining Beacon, Part 2

Can I just say how much I love the architecture of Beacon?

It’s time like this I appreciate background characters being silhouettes.

It makes it so much easier to pick out Yang.

Dawww, isn’t she just the best?

“Where am I supposed to find another nice, quirky girl to talk to?”

How dare you? Is that all the is to you? Quirk candy? Shame!

Although, to be fair, that’s all she is to me, too.

But damnit, I love her!

Oh, there’s one!

And it’s Clyde. Why is she just standing there. That’s a little creepy.

Damn is she gorgeous though. Why are the pretty ones always crazy?

Like Yang for example.

And Weiss.

And Ruby for that matter…

What’s her problem?

She was so happy to see her sister a moment ago. She even left behind the boy she was flirting with.

Mostly the look on Yang’s face, which I can’t even describe. Ruby leaping into her bigger sisters arms for protection, and Weiss just…being Weiss. Say what you will about the animation (and I will) they really nailed the faces. From this one screenshot you can read so much about everyone’s emotions.

It’s very well done.

I also want to acknowledge Weiss’ VA. She is quite good, and seems to nail her lines very naturally. Kudos. Her and Yang are genuinely good.

“You’re lucky we weren’t blown of the side of the cliff!”

Really, Weiss? Was that necessary? It was barely an explosion. Stop trying to make her feel bad!

“Oh my god you really exploded”

Kek. Yang gets the best lines.

“Dust for Dummies and other inadequate individuals.”

Oh, come on now, that’s just mean.

Can I just say how much I loved that Weiss’ voice speeds up here?

It’s like a drug commercial, where 50% of it is just a sped up voice listing side effects

Let me just say that I totally get how Ruby feels here

And the slow, turning zoom in and the blackening of the background really get across her emotions. It’s quite good.

“Uhhhh…?”

I’m with you, Ruby. I’m with you.

“You really want to start making things up to me?”

“Absolutely?”

Even after all that Ruby still wants to be friends. Such a sweetheart. It’s gonna come back to bite her I just know it.

“Read this and don’t ever speak to me again!”

Okay, that’s just funny. You can make this up to me by never talking to me again. Doesn’t that kind of defeat the point!

“Why don’t you start over and try to be friends, okay?”

Oh Yang. You’re just the best. You can tell that Ruby really really wants to make a friend here and you are doing everything you can to help her.

I wont bother retyping that entire speech. Honestly, annoyingly, I wasn’t able to get much out of it. It was incredibly cryptic.

Something about knowledge freeing one from the need for direction, but that knowledge alone isn’t enough.

My best guess for a paraphrase is that he is reminding them that they are all trainees. And he is warning them against thinking that just because they graduate from school, doesn’t mean they’re going to be great Hunters. It is up to them to take the first step after graduation into greatness.

Really? I just thought he had some stuff on his mind or something. Didn’t really strike me as unual, but they had to draw attention to it for some reason. I’m going to shelve this for now until we learn more about Ozpin. There has to be a reason for it, but I can begin to fathom what it is.

“I’m a natural blonde, you know!”

Dude. Stop it.

Ohhh, pretty

Also, it is established that is it now nighttime. Don’t worry about what all the character have been doing for the entire afternoon and evening. It’s nighttime now.

Heh, it looks like a big slumber party

“It’s like a biiiiig slumber party!”

Took the words right out of my mouth.

“I know I do purrrr”

Oh yang. I hesitate to call you a slut, but Bimbo still perfectly applies.

Here’s the thing though, I think she knows she’s a bimbo, and is totally okay with it. In her trailer, she even used that perception to her advantage.

Also, she still gets the best lines and still has one of the best VAs yet.

Look at the these hot guys doing hot guy things

And there’s Jaune in a onese. Dude, you got problems.

Ugggh.

His booties have cute little bunny rabbits!

I can’t decide if that’s funny or sad. So I’m gonna say both.

Also, in a universe of furries, wouldn’t anthropomorphism be a bit racist? I guess not, huh?

Me and Yang agree

Ruby is writing a letting to her friends at Signal. That’s so cute.

Me and Yang agree again!

Ruby, however, does not

I note in the few frames following this one that Yang’s PJ shirt has her symbol on it. Apparently getting items monogramed with your coat of arms is common enough to get it done on PJs. That’s neat.

Ruby really disagrees

But she does have a point. Having to leave your friends behind really sucks and staying in touch is often difficult.

There is one thing that’s a little strange. Why is she writing a letter? Does texting not exist in this techno-fantasy?

Yang’s voice says Jaune is ‘nice’ but her face says Jaune is ‘weird’

Jaune is now a +1 friend. You get plus 1 to hit and damage when you use him as a weapon. LIttle DnD humor for ya.

In any case, I agree with Blake. The episode comes to a close with some mild bickering.

I really want to know how these very very different people are doing to get along when forced to work together. It should be interesting.

Wrap-up and review

The animation remains in a weird place. Some of it is so damn good like the action and the faces, but others are so damn bad, like walking. I am assured that it evens out.

We didn’t learn as much this episode. It was cool so see our girls all in one place and interact for the first time. I wonder if they’re just be something like Sitcom episodes as filler, where it’s just them in their day-to-day life, dealing with eachother’s shit. I wouldn’t mind that.

They’re good characters, interesting characters, and seeing them interact would be fun.

Welcome

This is my 6th entry into the RWBY play-by-play. I know it seems redundant to keep typing that phrase, but something about it just gets me into the right headspace to write this.

I changed the way I do my rips, which will hopefully result in better screenshots. I can’t go into details because of this sub’s rules on piracy, but rest assured that I do have legal access to these videos and I am saving them for my sole use. I would just do it in the Youtube player, but pausing the video causes the progress bar to appear and stay there. Can’t get a clean screenshot.

But today, finally, 5 entries later, we’re finally doing episode 2. I have decided that if something else should crop up that prevents me from doing a full post, then I will go back and do a couple of songs, just to fill space. That way everyone is happy. I hope.

Spoiler rules apply. I’ve been getting a lot of questions about spoiler edge cases, so let me just once against reiterate that you are to use your own judgement. Trying to adjudicate every case is just not worth my time or yours. I trust you are all intelligent people. The rule of thumb is that if you are feeding me information, it’s a spoiler. Also, please refrain from pointing out things I missed or misunderstood, as missed and misunderstood things can create a payoff later. Also, please don’t give me hints about what to look out for. If you’re going to do that, you might as well just tell me what you want me to see, and that is also a spoilers and a no-no.

Spoiler thread is available.

Recap

It’s been awhile since we’ve had a recap section!

The trailers were pretty much just character showcases with a small details here and there. Mostly the things I took away from those are character abilities, as well as some minor story setup.

Yang moonlights as a bounty hunter between classes.

Summer is important to the show, despite being dead.

Weiss’ symbol is ubiquitous and important.

In episode one, some villains knocked over a dust shop, then escaped in an airship, which doesn’t make any sense, and Ruby was accepted into Hunter College by the kind and enigmatic Headmaster Ozpin.

I glossed over a lot of detail, but those seem to be the major story beats.

Shining Beacon Part 1

Our first shot is of some lovely airships, docking with a cliffside dock

Apparently airships are relatively common. At least as common as airplanes are to us.

What’s cool is they seem to swim through the air. I wonder what keeps them aloft? Engines? Magic? Little of both? They’re very cool in any case.

Poor Blinky

It’s the magnificent structure from the intro

That must make this Beacon Academy. It’s really beautiful. I wonder what the significance of the colored orbs are. If this was Final Fantasy I’d say that they are huge dust crystals that act as a source of power for all the students and teachers but that is just a guess.

This shot does lend credence to the idea that all those characters in the tracking shot belong to the same faction. The Beacon Faction. Neato!

“The view from Vale…”

What’s Vale? It’s a place, I get that much, and it’s a place close enough to have a view of Beacon Academy. Albeit a crappy one. Maybe it’s a city? That would make the most sense.

Oh, she went full chibi over weapons. Relatively mundane ones at that. Collapsible staff and a fire sword? Next to your collapsing gun-scythe? She really does like weapons.

Ah, ah, ah, Come here, you.

“They’re an extension of ourselves, there’s a part of us!”

I wonder how literal that is. Is there a literal magic bond between weapon of wielder? Or is it more mundane like how fighter pilots say their jet fighter is an extension of their body? Normally I’d say the second one, but given this show’s techno-fantasy setting, it could be both.

I’m gonna use the non-magical one as my working theory.

“Oh, they’re so cool”

Actually, is it just me or did Ruby’s voice get better from one episode to the next? It’s still not good but it is better. Her VA is learning fast. Kudos.

Hey, put that away! You’re going to hurt someone!

Is she just swinging that thing around? In the middle of a crowded thoroughfare? She may be a hell of a fighter, but she’s kinda dumb when the pressure isn’t on.

She’s wearing the symbol that appears behind her in the intro

I guess this means those symbols really do belong to their girls. Like a sort of one-person coat-of-arms. I can dig that. It’s a cool character touch.

Looking back through some other screenshots, I can see that this applies to all the girls. Okay, interesting. Call that one proven then.

Classic bigger sister

“Why would I need friends when I have you?”

Awww, now that’s just sad.

These are supposedly her friends

Yet they’re in silhouette. So they’re obviously not important. Also, the three you can see clearly are boys. No surprise there.

“I don’t know what I’m doing”

She just fell over on someone’s luggage and I’m sure that’s going to came back and bite her, but for now I just can’t get over that boot.

She’s an adorable girl in an adorable skirt and corset, but she wears combat boots. It’s the same dichotomy of her character. Adorable, yet badass, heroling. Lovely.

“What are you doing?”

She doesn’t know. And neither do I.

This animation right here is exactly what I’m talking about

It’s so mechanical. Like an MMO character playing an emote, then returning to neutral stance. And the VA just talks over it without any synchronization between speech and action.

Other than that, yey it’s Weiss!

Wow, she is a bitch.

This is dust

Okay, so we have three forms of dust now. Bottled form, wall-tube form, and crystal form. The different colors confirm that it also comes in many different ‘flavors’. What exactly those flavors are is still a mystery.

Mined and purified from the Schnee quarry? That is a really interesting line.

Dust is mined and processed, like a metal ore. That’s obvious.

“The Schnee Quarry” is the really interesting part of that line though. That means she , or at least her family, owns a Dust Quarry. Her symbol was seen on several boxes on the cargo train. It’s not too much of a leap to assume those boxes contained dust from her quarry. That means her symbol isn’t hers, per se, but it more belongs to her entire family.

My coat-of-arms comparison may have been more on the nose than I realized.

If it belongs to her whole family, then that makes it a lot easier to reconcile the snowflakes on the train. It also means that they export a non-insignificant amount of Dust.

Well now. juding by those technicolor clouds coming out of her suitcase, Dust is literally dust

So the bottled form is just Dust’s dust form. Presumably crushed crystals. So are crystals the unprocessed form of Dust, and the dust form in the refined form? That is fascinating.

“Fire, water, lightning, energy”

There you have it, from the quarry owner herself. The flavors of Dust are energy types. That flows rather nicely into the idea of magic. Use fire Dust to cast fire magic. Weiss here probably uses ice Dust to cast ice magic. It’s a very cool magic system and would go well with some sort of RPG. Neato.

She is spilling rather a lot of it. I wonder how volatile that stuff is?

Uh oh

Very volatile, as it turns out.

It did survive getting fallen on and they do ship it by train so it must not be very sensitive to shocks. I suspect is was more the mixing that did the damage.

Proof that Dust isn’t terribly sensitive to shocks.

Nice boots

Also, the snowflake is on the bottle. Very nice.

It’s Blake!

What the hell is she doing here? Is she a student? I guess if Yang moonlights as a bounty hunter, it’s not unreasonable that Blake could moonlight as a train theif. Or, she used to anyway until cutting ties with Adam.

I wonder if they’ll come into conflict. The law vs the criminal. That would be some cool character development.

Oh…man. What if Blake is Yang’s target?! That would be so wild!

She likes books, apparently. Or maybe they just needed her to be doing something, anything at all, and reading a book as as good as anything.

There’s no title. That’s weird.

Awwwww. Weiss, you bitch. Give the poor girl a break.

Rant rant rant, bitch bitch bitch

Why is she even so mad? Obviously Ruby is sorry. If I were there I’d give that white-dresses little !$@%@# a piece of my mind.

Another interesting line. “We’re not just here for sparring and practice you know. We’re here to fight monsters!”

So Beacon is more than a place of training, it’s also an active mission hub. Do they send students on missions into the world as part of their training? 17 year old girls? That’s wild!

On the other hand, it sort of makes sense. These 17 year old kids have some serious firepower, incredible combat skills, and magical power to back them up. Don’t forget 4 years of training, as well. So maybe it’s not that bad. They just start them early. When they’re in their prime.

It makes sense. Imagine if they started training after normal high school. That would mean they start fighting monsters at the age of 22. That’s not so bad. There are real life soldiers that see combat way earlier than that.

They just happen to combine education and training. It’s pretty efficient if you think about it.

“I said I was sorry Princess”

Woo, you tell her! Don’t let that bitch walk all over you! You tried to be nice, now it’s time to get serious!

Cat fight!

“It’s heiress, actually” Wait what?

Heiress?

To what?

“Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, one of the largest producers of energy propellant in the world.”

“Finally, some recognition!”

I had to rewrite this section so many times, because so much information is revealed in just those two lines. That’s why this is more than my usual line by line analysis, because these two lines work so closely together.

Oh man. I had seriously underestimated the Quarry owner.

So there’s two important things that happened here. One, Blake recognized her. No introduction, she just know who she was, and the company she works for. And Weiss expected that. That implies, if not proves, a certain level of fame.

Also, Schnee Dust Company is huge. If Dust is as important as it seems, then that means the largest producer of the stuff must do a serious amount of business. At least enough business that the Heiress to the company expects a level of recognition and respect.

So that’s the secret of the snowflake then. It’s the Schnee Family coat of arms as the corporate logo for the Schnee Dust Company (SDC). They stamp their shipments with it and their daughter wears it to school.

Glad we finally got that sorted out.

Still wonder how using it to cast magic comes into it. I guess I’ll have to wait on that.

Controversial labor force and questionable business partners, eh?

How questionable?

This questionable?

Is Roman working for the SDC? Does that mean the Lady-in-Red is also working for the SDC? This just got a hell of a lot more interesting.

If kinda fits with Weiss’ personality too. She is just the worst kind of entitled bitch. Does that make her evil? No. But it does mean she is questionably moral, and is about to inherit a huge questionably moral company.

Weiss becoming a Magical Girl gone Bad would be an awesome plot twist. Then Ruby the heroine and Yang the Bounty Hunter team up to take her down!

I’m pretty sure that’s not it, though. These four girls are shown working together in the intro sequence. It also leaves out the entirety of Team Pacman (I don’t know if they’re a team, it’s just convenient to call them that). More likely the story is one of Weiss overcoming her upbringing and learning to be not such a bitch all the time.

Roman working for the SDC means his robbery makes a lot more sense though. If he’s being paid by the SDC then it explains why he wasn’t after the money. Stealing the Dust could drive up Dust prices in the area, then SDC could turn around and sell the dust they stole again at a bargain price (since they already sold it once, the profit was already made). They’d look like heroes selling their product at a loss to help out the little man, when really it’s just all pure profit.

That almost seems possible.

And the airship was just an emergency measure. Like if, for instance, a huntress shows up? Having another evil Huntress in the dropship would make sense in that case. So maybe Roman and Red are partners, both hired by the SDC.

I agree ruby. Bitch just got wrecked

Suck it, Weiss.

And she storms off. Defeated

Suck it, Weiss.

“I promise I’ll make this up to youuuu!”

Man, is Ruby not just a little bundle of joy and goodness? Even after all that, she still wants to be friends.

Aww, poor Ruby

Is that Weiss’ luggage? Typical rich bitch.

Aw, come on, really Blake?

Not even gonna say hi?

It makes sense if she’s a criminal. Wouldn’t want to make too many friends.

Still. Poor Ruby. I hope she makes a friend.

Ow, my heart

Oh hey, it’s Blinky!

I’m gonna double down on the love interest angle. He showed up like a white knight when Ruby needed him most. Good timing.

John. His name is John. How normal, just like his cloths.

“Arn’t you the guy that threw up on the ship?”

Savage, Ruby. Savage.

Jaune’s VA has some talent. It seems very natural and believable. Nice. Seems weird that the man four would have the weakest VAs but w/e.

Here’s another example of the Character playing an emote

It’s just so…ugh. So clunky.

This is a cute conversation.

Oh, it’s Jaune Arc. Jaune. Not John. My bad.

“Short, sweet, rolls of the tongue. Ladies love it!”

Dude. No.

“Do they?”

Can’t…breathe…laughing….

And we’re back. Damn Ruby. That was too savage.

She is being so mean to her love interest. Isn’t this how it always starts?

Is she flirting?

Whoa! Put that away! Geez, you’re gonna hurt someone!

Hah, Jaune said the same thing

Her scythe is also a customizable, high impact, sniper rifle. So I’m just gonna call it a Sniper Scythe.

“It’s also a gun”

That might as well be the tagline. RWBY: It’s also a gun. That’s not true though, out of everyone we’ve met, only Ruby, Yang, and Blake have an Also Gun. Everyone else is magic or swords. The Also Guns are just really striking. Maybe I’m overstating this, but they feel like a really important part of the canon.

“So what do you got?!”

Hey, down girl! I know he’s gorgeous with his blonde hair and blue eyes, but you gotta contain yourself!

“I got this sword”

Yeah. I bet you do.

Ruby wants the sword ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡° )

Oh hey, an expando-shield that’s also a sheath for the blade!

That’s handy.

It also has a symbol on it, which I’m going to assume is Jaune’s symbol.

Oh, jeez. He can’t even control the shield

Yeah, he is definitely not a real huntsman. I don’t know what he’s doing here, but he definitely lacks the confidence and comfort with his weapons that one would gain after four years of training. I’m starting to think pretty-boy here is a fraud.

Judging by the look on Ruby’s face. I wonder if she’s starting to feel the same way.

“But…wouldn’t it weigh the same?”

Hah! That’s a good point. But I suppose it’s more convenient to carry around that way, even if it isn’t lighter.

“Yeah, it does”

Awwww.

Wait, she made that?

“Wait, you made that?”

I know, right?!

Everyone forges their own weapons, hey? That’s a big point in favor of some sort of magical link between owner and weapon. That is super cool.

But, Jaune didn’t make his. He got it from his great-great grandfather. Or, if my fraud theory is correct, he stole it and run away to Beacon. Because reasons.

“Sounds more like a family heirloom to me. Well I like it!”

Oh Ruby. Way to try and make him feel better. You are too sweet for this world.

The classics. Right. Because he stole it and couldn’t make is own.

I don’t like you very much, Jaune.

“Strangers are just friends you haven’t met yet.” I like that line.

And it wraps up with some more light flirting.

Wrap-up and Review

I know the episode was only 6 minutes long, but holy crap was it dense! So much information that when combined with other bits from the world really paint an interesting picture. So no, I will not be doing both.

I suspect that this is gonna be the pattern for a while. The first episodes have a lot of building to do, so I have a lot of writing to do. I suspect that as time goes on, information density will start to reduce and I’ll be able to cover more run time with fewer characters. I hope. Or this is gonna take a long long time.

It just took me three hours to watch a 6 minute episode. Man, that was a dense one.

My stance on the show hasn’t changed. The VA’s are sub-par, the animation is wonky and clunky. The world is getting more and more interesting though, and I’m digging the character designs. The narrative possibilities have me rather excited as well.

Something just clicked for me. If Blake is Yang’s target, then it makes sense that she’s moonlighting at the same school. She might be on the trail and has tracked Blake to this school.

There are some serious problems with that theory, though. I dunno if it means anything. Just a stray thought.

Play of the Game

Welcome

Things are still a bit off the rails at the old salt mine, and I didn’t get home today until midnight. Thankfully my boss has seen fit to give me tomorrow off to make up for keeping me on for a double, so yey. Also overtime, double yey.

Anyway, that’s why this is late.

My opinion on the show so far is pretty mixed, as most of you know. The action is great, the characters (what little I know of them) are good, but the non-action animation and the voice acting are quite sub par. I have been warned about this again and again and I just wanted to acknowledge those warnings here in the welcome section so everyone knows that I know.

Mostly, it’s the fact that everyone responds with a sort of deep regret about the early episodes that makes me confident that things do turn around, and that I should wait specifically for episode 8 before making my final call. So this I will do.

Otherwise, I think we’re at a place where we can clarify what is and is not a spoiler. For the most part if your message is feeding me a peice of information, it is a spoiler, no matter how much you say “not a spoiler, but”. If you have to tell me about it and I didn’t figure it out on my own, it’s a spoiler. Just about the only 100% exception to this is weapon names which I am told are never mentioned in the show proper, and really don’t matter anyway. Hopefully that clears that up. I don’t consider the fairy tale connections to be a spoiler either, since I have been assured they also don’t matter and more inform the design of the character that anything else. However, others in the threads have lamented losing the payoff of me figuring it out on my own, so that’s a wash. You all can figure it out amongst yourselves.

That being said, if you absolutely must feed me a piece of information, and you’re absolutely sure it’s not a spoiler, then fine, hit me with it. I’m trusting you.

Lastly, the spoiler-safe thread is there if you want it.

Onward!

Intro

We open with our girl kneeling at summer’s grave again.

More and more I think that Summer is going to be incredibly important to the story. The more I think this, the more I realize the magnitude of my mistake in calling Yang, Summer, and how much that must have been killing you guys.

It must have been incredibly hard to hold back and not scream “THAT’S NOT SUMMER”

Well done. Now if I could just get you all to chill out on the smaller spoilers like Glynda’s job or Weiss’ age and occupation, we’d be in business.

Is that Summer?

She looks like a white, ghostly Ruby. Interesting.

Mother maybe? It makes sense, and dead parents are an extremely common trope. I’m gonna go with mother as my working theory, but I have nothing to back that up with other than the similar dress, the same last name, and the fact she’s appears somewhat taller.

Monsters, clearly, but are they the monsters from the opening speech? I don’t really see what else they could be. I like their design, very menacing and otherworldly. The faceplates look a bit like Pimp Daddy Weeb’s Mask

Well, one henchman and one henchwoman. Given a lack of names or anything, I hereby dub them Tweedle Dick and Tweedle Balls, respectively.

Ooooh, menacing

Our girls, defending some sort of glowing red orb.

I wonder what that’s all about? Some sort of power source? Perhaps a scrying sensor? Impossible to tell.

The Aryan Coconut

Admiring a statue. Fair enough.

[Um, who the fuck are these people?

Well, gotta name them I guess. From left to right, Pinky, Inky, Blinky, and Clyde.

I’m only gonna do really rough first impressions on these characters since I haven’t technically ‘met’ them yet, but I’m sure you’re all dying to know.

Pinky seems like a girly girl. The smile makes my first impression a Genki Girl. Overall I like her design, it screams “I’m cute, love me. Please love me. Why are you not loving me yet?” From the boob-heart to her shortish pink skirt. She’s cute and she knows it. Short red hair and greenish eyes complete the ensemble. I think I’m supposed to love her. We shall see. She’s either Genki or Yandere. Time will tell.

I have no idea what to make of Inky. I love love love his green jacket/coat thing. Very stylish, but also very reserved, in a way. Gun to my head I’d say martial artist, but which kind I’m not sure. I’m only 20% sure of the martial artist thing anyway. Great design.

I’m gonna save Blinky for last and talk about Clyde. (Tough break on the name, sweetheart) Those eyes are incredible. Those are the kind of verdant greens one could lose hours in. I love the bright red hair, and friendly demeanor (as evidenced by the comforting hand on Blinky’s shoulder). She’s also a stone cold hottie. The hair, the eyes, and just look as those curves. The skirt is a bit too short, but I’m sure this show’s aversion to panty shots will continue unabated. A part of me wonders how she avoids flashing her muff at everyone in her day to day life though. The leather and bronze armor with a red shock of cloth acting somewhat as a half skirt give her a bit of a bronze-age warrior vibe, but that’s just a guess. In a word, gorgeous. She might be my favorite design yet.

I really really want to know what she’s like. If her smile and comforting hand are any indication, she’s incredibly kind. But that’s just wishful thinking.

We’ve technically met Blinky, but only for a few seconds as Vomit Boy. What strikes me about him is how normal his clothing is. Pinky’s got a cute pink skirt and boob window with some sort of metal bracing on her outfit, Inky’s jacket is the stuff of legends, everything about Clyde is beyond hotness, but Blinky is just so average. Hoodie, jeans, (ripped jeans at that) gives him a distinctly unheroic vibe. Combined with the airsickness, these datapoints really reinforce him at the wannabe. The bad Huntsman just getting by.

And Clyde, with her bronze warrior-goddess looks, is there to help him.

Damn I love these character designs. I don’t know how well I pegged them, but the fact I can draw so much from a still frame based just on what the wear and how they stand is amazing. Big kudos on the show for their character designs. Big ups. All except for inky, I can’t quite pin him down.

Anyway, that went on longer than I wanted and for all I know they’re villains.

Let’s move on

Red

She seems upset. What’s wrong, sweetie?

White

There’s that damned snowflake again. I kinda just want to break down and call it “her” symbol since it appears with her here, but I’m hesitant to do so because that has implications for the snowflakes on the train. As in, those boxes belong to her or something. Is it her performance gear? Luggage? Was she on the train?

Did Blake’s actions save her from Adam’s bombs?

It didn’t look like a passenger train, but that would mean those boxes were cargo. Her cargo. Why?

See what I mean? That’s why I don’t want to call it her symbol. It’s just too much of a leap with too many implications none of which as satisfying. It’s the Summer thing all over again.

Adam’s bombs. Atom bomb. Heh. I made a funny.

Black

Yellow

Our last girl.

Here’s the annoying thing, they all appeared with some kind of symbol behind them. I’m sort of forced to assume those symbols belong to those girls. At first, that’s awesome that everyone gets glyphs. It makes me wonder if they all use them to cast magic like Weiss does, bringing this whole thing back around to Fullmetal Alchemist. They aren’t circles but they are glyphs. Or maybe it’s just a cool character detail.

Except for Weiss’, because hers means something. It has to be, it’s everywhere, and it’s the only one we’ve seen that is used for magic.

Arrg, this is all so infuriating.

Fine, the symbols belong to the girls, I’ll roll with that, and just have to accept I don’t have enough information to understand what makes Weiss special.

Moving on.

The next one is a tracking shot of Ozpin and Glynda, followed by Inky, Pinky, Blinky, and Clyde, then our four primary girls, standing in front of some magnificent structure with a grand tower and flying buttresses and all the accoutrements of expensive architecture.

I have no idea what to do with this, as no one is consistent. Our four girls are very different with very different lives. The four new people are just sort of there for some reason, and then there’s the headmaster and his assistant. It’s a who’s who of characters. I assume it’s supposed to bring them together in some kind of way but I’ll be damned if I can figure out what.

It wouldn’t be too much of a leap to assume they’re all part of the same faction or something, but there’s been nothing to back up the idea that there even are sides. We have the Lady-in-Red faction, the school faction with Glynda and Ozpin, then all these random kids. If they even are kids. Just, not enough information.

Then our girl strikes a pose

There you go. Intro done. Lots of questions, not a lot of answers. The mystery builds!

Wrap-up

I actually managed to get >10,000 characters out of the intro alone, which is surprising. Considering I’ve been told about a dozen times that I should do the next two episodes as one, I think I’m going to wrap it up here. Doing both episodes, the intro, and that longer-than-normal welcome will very likely go way over limit, so it’s better to cut this one short and do two decent ones, than one incredible mega-thread that gets TL;DR’d.

If that makes sense.

But there. It’s done. I did the trailers, I did the intro, I did all the little nitpicky stuff people wanted me to do before I am allowed to continue the show. Everybody happy now? I don’t care. Episode 2 (and maybe 3) comes tomorrow.

I’ll be up for another hour or so to hang out in the comments, but then I’m going to bed. I’ll do the next one when I wake up.

The last thing I’d like to say is that /u/FawkesTP did a fanfic in the AU created by my wild predictions. Link in the links section. I haven’t read it yet (sorry fawkes, I’ll get to it I promise) but he asked me to link it here. So let it be done.

Dude, you could just totally link it on your own, too. It’s your work, you don’t need my permission. If you think you do need it, then you have it. It’s yours. That goes for anyone else who wants to make something out of my ramblings.

Anyway, there’s not that much more to say. We saw some new characters, got a couple hints about the world, maybe made a few connections. It’s not my best work, but I think I’m proud enough of it to put my name on it.